1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a head suspension assembly having a head IC and a disk drive provided with the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A magnetic disk drive as a disk drive generally comprises a magnetic disk located in a case, a spindle motor for supporting and rotating the magnetic disk, and a head suspension assembly that includes a magnetic head for reading information from and writing it to the magnetic disk.
The head suspension assembly includes a slider having the magnetic head thereon, a suspension supporting the slider, and an arm supporting the suspension. A wiring pattern is fixed to the suspension and the arm. The slider is fixed to the wiring pattern by adhesive bonding, while the magnetic head is connected electrically to the wiring pattern.
The head suspension assembly is rockably supported by means of a bearing assembly. The magnetic head can be moved to any desired position on the magnetic disk by rocking the head suspension assembly by a voice coil motor.
MR heads are widely used as magnetic heads nowadays. However, MR heads are highly susceptible to static electricity, and handling them requires caution in the assembly processes for the magnetic heads and manufacturing processes for the magnetic disk drives. Static electricity can be effectively dealt with by insulating the path of overcurrent involved in electrostatic discharge by some methods. In one notable method, a head IC is mounted between the magnetic head and electrode terminals of the head suspension assembly. A head suspension assembly mounted with a head IC is described in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 11-273044, for example.
Recently, a proposal has been made to improve the function of the disk drive by incorporating a write driver and the like, as well as an amplifier, into the head IC. In this case, however, heat has a bad effect on the disk drive. Normally, heat that is generated from the head IC is radiated through the suspension, arm, etc., during operation of the magnetic disk drive. In the case where the write driver and the like are incorporated in the head IC, however, heat generated from the head IC increases and may possibly deform the head suspension. If the head suspension is deformed, it is hard to appropriately support the magnetic head, so that incorrect operation may occur.